Increase in local new car sales

Gillanders Sales Manager Alan Innes and Manager Paul Becci

The Scottish Motor Trade Association has announced that there has been an increase in the number of new cars sold across the country, including Grampian.

New car registrations in Scotland in October this year totalled just over 13,500 units - an increase of 11 per cent compared to the same time last year.

Hawco Manager David Westland with a new Volkswagen

Local car dealers have all seen an improvement in sales of new models.

Manager of Arnold Clark, Derek Stephen, has seen an increase in car sales, with customers finding the Ford Options offer a significant help when finding a new car.

Looking to the future he said: “The predictions for next year are strong for Ford and we have two new models coming out - a Fiesta in December and a Kuga in January.

“We are expecting a high number of sales for these.”

Gillanders manager, Paul Becci, said: “In Scotland, sales of Suzuki are up six and a half per cent on last year and Peugeot is up by five per cent.

“Grampian holds up better as there are three strong industries - oil, fishing and farming.

“Finance options are popular and more people take these up as it is a more affordable option in the long run. There are no unexpected bills.

“We have seen an increase of around 25 per cent in financing deals.”

Peterhead Hawco manager David Westland said: “We have had a good year all things considered. The local area seems to be bucking some of the National trends. No doubt we are benefitting from the boost to the economy that comes with being in a thriving area.

“As a company we are also very fortunate that the Volkswagen range is so popular with car buyers both new to the brand and from the high level of loyal customers who consistently come back to us.

“We expect to finish about 15 per cent ahead of last year’s new retail sales by the end of the year. I’m sure next year will prove to be another exciting year for us as our most popular model, the Golf, is being replaced with an all-new model in January 2013.”

Mr Westland added: “We know people are looking for great value for money and so the deals have to be right too.”

Scottish Motor Trade Association Chief Executive, Douglas Robertson said: “This further increase in new car registrations is very welcome. We view this as further evidence that consumer confidence is returning to the market perhaps even faster than we had anticipated and our dealers can look forward with much more confidence to the start of 2013.”